And England's captain Michael Vaughan was at least honest enough to admit that England were found out by good quality swing bowling. And just as the 1972 Test at Lord's will long be remembered as the Bob Massie match because of his 16 wickets on debut, Trent Bridge will, live beyond the tabloid jellybean sucksweet image and give Zaheer rightful recognition.

Yet, anyone with an inquisitive mind who has followed Indian teams since the 1946 tour of England, and cut his teeth by listening to static shortwave broadcasts on old valve radios, would soon get an idea of what names excited the imagination. And as the editor's brief is Indian sides since 1947, it excluded a couple of names that might have been considered.

Fortunately, being a one-time provincial selector, gave me an insight into the thinking of others. You draw up a list and look at form and skills and other such areas of proficiency and find common cause in arriving at a side.

But when it comes to a list of choices, there are favourites and names that demanded inclusion and immediately four names were inked on the list. No one is going to quibble either, but there will be many who will take exception to a couple of omissions.

Vinoo Mankad, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Subhash Gupte are the four. Reading about Mankad scoring runs against the ferocious bowling of Fred Trueman in 1952 was impressive. And to think that in those years, the game in India was largely played on matting and that transferring such skills to turf was not easy. From personal experience, playing the game in some country areas in New Zealand in the 1950s, transition from matting to turf is more difficult to negotiate than from turf to matting.

But whatever the age, Mankad's performances were always noted and seeing him in action when nearing retirement gave only a glimpse of his expertise as a batsman and cunning bowler. There is more to Mankad than the Lord's Test of 1952 and a check on his record proves his sustained reliability. He didn't sell his wicket cheaply. And the need for the left-arm variety spin clinches his place, but not necessarily as an opener.

Umpiring a twilight floodlit charity game at Centurion in which Gavaskar played during the 1996/97 Indian tour of South Africa gave me a close up of the man's acute attention to detail, pitch conditions and style. You don't find many so blessed. Barry Richards had always impressed me with similar quality and the glimpse of Gavaskar that night explained why he is ranked so highly by the great West Indians.

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As for number three, a trio of names are jotted down but Vijay Merchant fills the requirements, with the sublime and gifted Dravid, a long-time favourite, at four. Or maybe an interchange should Merchant open and Dravid slipped into three. It is where sentiment takes over just this once as there are those who would push for the other Vijay, Hazare with his impressive record and brilliance.

Tougher still perhaps because in conversation with Clarrie Grimmett in 1963/84, he rated Hazare an all-time great and felt he was marginally better than the next choice, the majestic Polly Umrigar. While the only experience is of watching him in action during the disappointing 1959 tour of England, and where the scored that one century at Old Trafford, his aplomb will always be remembered. He looks good at four.

The choice of Mohammad Azharuddin at number five is not just because of the need of a captain but from the moment seeing him in action, was a revelation: someone blessed with elegance, style and ability as well and run-scoring qualities that India need in this area of the batting order.

From here on it's not a quite question of examining the curate's egg but one where the pieces fit together. Mankad can now be moved to six and stabilise the lower-order.

It allows for Farokh Engineer, long been admired for his ability to bat as clinically as he has kept wicket, to slip in at seven. There will be many who will disagree, but the era in which he played was a tough one and his flamboyance appreciated. The same could be said about Kapil Dev whose technical skill and quality comes at eight to give the added weight to the lower order and swing bowling an advantage, with Subhash Gupte who bagged 17 wickets in 1959 England Tests, next in line. Making up the side are Javagal Srinath during a time when India needed a bowler of his class, and because there is a need for off-spin, Erapalli Prasanna.

What? No Sachin Tendulkar. Howls of derision can be heard all the way from Mumbai to Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi. Okay, but in this line-up where do you put him. So let's make him 12th man and Vijay Hazare the first reserve.

The line up, without apology is: Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Merchant, Rahul Dravid, Polly Umrigar, Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), Vinoo Mankad, Farokh Engineer, Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Subash Gupte, Erapalli Prasanna; 12thman: Sachin Tendulkar. Reserve: Vijay Hazare.

(Renowned cricket writer and cricketnext.com columnist Trevor Chesterfield has picked his Indian dream Test team from those who represented the country after 1947).